New Seven Wonders of the World Unveiled!

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After months of voting by the general public the World over, a new list of Seven Wonders was announced today as part of the New 7 Wonders Campaign. The top contenders were announced back in June, but voting ended today, and the new list was unveiled at an official ceremony in Lisbon. So, with out further adieu, I give you the new list of the New Seven Wonder of the World:

• The Great Wall of China

• Petra in Jordan

• Brazil’s statue of Christ the Redeemer

• Peru’s Machu Picchu

• Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid

• The Colosseum in Rome

• India’s Taj Mahal

The first thing you’ll note is that the Great Pyramid of Giza is not on the list. It was exempt from voting altogether since it’s the only remaining Wonder from the original list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Pyramids are still held above everything else on this new lists.

Personally, I like most of the choices. The Great Wall of China is simply amazing and the other selections are worthy contenders. I do think that the Christ The Redeemer statue seems out of place on this list though. Don’t get me wrong, it is a stunning statue perched on top of a mountain over looking Rio. It is indeed a marvel. But personally, I don’t think it’s a Wonder.

Just my opinion. What’s yours? What do you think of this list? What should be on it? What shouldn’t? I’d love to hear your comments.

Kraig Becker

7 thoughts on “New Seven Wonders of the World Unveiled!”

  1. I agree with the Great Wall for sure. I’m not sure I would vote for the Colosseum, though. This list DOES make me want to go to Jordan – I always forget about that one.
    I like the site – keep it up. I also nominated you for the
    Blogger’s Choice Awards for best Travel blog. I know this isn’t a blog strictly about travel, but I think it fits nicely. (http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/categories/25?page=32) If you go there, you can put this badge on your page and grab some votes.

    Keep up the posts friend.
    aB.

  2. Aaron,

    I haven’t seen the Colosseum as of yet, but I’ve heard others say that it doesn’t live up to it’s hype either. I just think that it has a lot more history to it than the Christ The Redeemer statue.

    Thanks for the nomination! Much appreciated! I’ve added the bade to my page. 🙂

  3. I agree with most of the selections, but you really aren’t going to be able to satisfy everyone with a list like this.

    You could very well question how Wonder X made the list while Angkor did not, etc.

    Overall they did a pretty good job, and they certainly got more media attention than I expected them to get.

    I was first introduced to the organization behind the new list while visiting Peru. The local tourism industry was embracing the contest and asking tourists to vote for Machu Picchu. Didn’t think much of it at the time so it was surprising to see how much attention it has gotten in the days leading up to the announcement of the winners.

  4. You’re right Carl, there really isn’t any way to create a list like this that will make anyone completely happy. Considering it was a vote by the general public, and from what I hear India and Brazil in particular, made concerted efforts to get their citizens to vote, I guess we can understand how certain things make the list while others are left off.

    Over all, I’d say the 20 or so sites that they selected for final consideration were all pretty amazing, and for the most part, everything on this list is deserving. I just personally don’t find the Christ The Redeemer statue to be a “Wonder”. It’s amazing, and some of the photos taken of it are spectacular, but for me, it’s just not on par with the others on this list.

    But I also understand that there are plenty of people unimpressed with some of the other sites as well, so as you said, we can’t please everyone.

  5. Hi Kraig,

    Great post, and thanks for keeping us in the loop on this! I’ve been to a couple of the sites – Macchu Picchu and the Taj Mahal – but not the others.

    Like you said, hard to make everyone happy with this list. Christ the Redeemer is indeed impressive, but there are other ones, too, that did not make the list: the now-gone Bamiyan Buddhas, the cave city of Guge in western Tibet, Tikal in Guatemala, and many more. Hard to create a perfect list, but they did pretty well!

    Thanks again,

    Jake

  6. Hey Jake!

    Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

    You make a great point about all the amazing things that were left off this list. There are some amazing things out there, and it’s pretty darn hard to boil the list down to 7 Wonders. All in all, a pretty great list though.

    Have you been to the underground cities in Cappadocia, Turkey? They were one of the first places I thought of when I read what was on the list too.

    It’s also a shame that the Pyramids, which are simply amazing and humbling, are the only original “Wonder” that is still standing.

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